Houston man stands his ground in his own yard during police misidentification

Texas

Carol Ozemhoya | OW Contributor |
5/16/2019, 9:54 a.m.

Clarence Evans was in his own yard watching his kids play when a police officer tried to arrest him, claiming he had warrants for his arrest. Evans stood his ground, and eventually police left him alone. But it’s just another case of White officers misidentifying a suspect. Evans says he understands now how situations escalate and Black people get shot and killed. Of course there’s a video of the entire incident and it’s now received more than a million views on social media. Evans put the video up on May 8 – in addition to the million views on Facebook, the video has been watched 4.5 million times on Twitter, reports the Huffington Post. The story goes that a police officer pulls up and enters Evans’ yard and tells him he’s under arrest. Evans asks “For what” and tells the officer that’s not his name. The officer asks Evans for identification and he refuses. “No, I’m not gonna be the next [Black person] you kill, no!” Evans says in the video, later adding: “I’m not gonna let you put me in handcuffs … You’re in my yard, on my property.” He tells the officer, “Sir, I don’t want you touching me while you’re shaking, you need to step back and calm down.” Another officer later pulls up in a car and gets the first officer’s phone out of his vehicle, and they show Evans a picture of the man they’re allegedly looking for. “Doesn’t that look a lot like you?” the first officer says. “No, that don’t look like me!” Evans responds. In his video caption, Evans explains that the officer had shown him a photo of a Black man with dreadlocks who appeared to be in his 50s. “What are you trying to say, because I got dreads and I’m Black, that’s me?” Eventually, the officer says he’ll be filing a report and both officers leave. No charges have been filed against Evans or the officers. Watch the video here.